Equilibrium properties of charged microgels: a Poisson-Boltzmann-Flory approach

Abstract

The equilibrium properties of ionic microgels are investigated using a combination of the Poisson-Boltzmann and Flory theories. Swelling behavior, density profiles, and effective charges are all calculated in a self-consistent way. Special attention is given to the effects of salinity on these quantities. It is found that the equilibrium microgel size is strongly influenced by the amount of added salt. Increasing the salt concentration leads to a considerable reduction of the microgel volume, which therefore releases its internal material -- solvent molecules and dissociated ions -- into the solution. Finally, the question of charge renormalization of ionic microgels in the context of the cell model is briefly addressed.

References in corpus (10)

• Electrostatic correlations: from Plasma to Biology
• Solvation Effects in Near-Critical Binary Mixtures
• Multiple dynamic regimes in concentrated microgel systems
• Charged colloids in an aqueous mixture with a salt
• A close look into the excluded volume effects within a double layer
• Local theory for ions in binary liquid mixtures
• Donnan equilibrium and the osmotic pressure of charged colloidal lattices
• Self-assembly of spherical interpolyelectrolyte complexes from oppositely charged polymers
• Equation of state of charged colloidal suspensions and its dependence on the thermodynamic route
• Strong screening in the plum pudding model

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Swelling, Structure, and Phase Stability of Compressible Microgels
• Counterion-Induced Swelling of Ionic Microgels
• Swelling of ionic microgel particles in the presence of excluded-volume interactions: a density functional approach
• Charge Regulation of Polyelectrolyte Gels: Swelling Transition
• Influence of network topology on the swelling of polyelectrolyte nanogels
• Numerical insights on ionic microgels: structure and swelling behaviour
• Modeling deswelling, thermodynamics, structure, and dynamics in ionic microgel suspensions
• Cell Model Approaches for Predicting the Swelling and Mechanical Properties of Polyelectrolyte Gels
• Ionic Size Effects on the Poisson-Boltzmann Theory
• Osmotic Pressure and Swelling Behavior of Ionic Microcapsules
• Equilibrium conformations and surface charge regulation of spherical polymer brushes in stretched regimes
• Osmotic Pressure of Permeable Ionic Microgels: Poisson-Boltzmann Theory and Exact Statistical Mechanical Relations in the Cell Model
• Effective interactions, structure, and pressure in charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions: Critical assessment of charge renormalization methods
• Osmotic Swelling Behavior of Surface-Charged Ionic Microgels
• Electrolytes in regimes of strong confinements: surface charge modulations, osmotic equilibrium and electroneutrality
• Response of Hydrogels and Microgels to Nanoparticle Crowding
• Modeling Crystallization in Concentrated Suspensions of Compressible Microgels